With the CD and DVD set Celebration Day riding high on theBillboard charts, we need no reminder of the potent magic Jimmy Page created as the leader of Led Zeppelin. With his beloved Les Pauls "Number 1" and "Number 2" on his shoulders as well as a variety of other famed instruments Page wrote his name across the annals of rock history in very large script indeed.
The eight studio albums and the live The Song Remains the Samerecorded from 1968 to 1979 during Zeppelin’s original incarnation are still the subjects of constant scrutiny by players, pundit and fans. And the studio leftovers collection Coda and well as the liveHow The West Was Won, an 1972 in-concert set that emerged in 2003, are equally fine-tooth-combed for arcana regarding technique and meaning.
Given the microscopic examination these recordings endure, it’s surprising so relatively little attention is paid to the albums for which Page served as creative master pre-, parallel- and post-Led Zeppelin. He’s never been a slouch, and these discs range from roof raising rock performances to psychedelic experimental fantasies to nail-biting soundtracks to foreshadowings of some of Led Zeppelin’s finest moments.
For your consideration, here’s a list of Jimmy Page un-Zepped, his most significant recordings outside of the masterpieces he created with Led Zeppelin — still arguably the world’s greatest rock and roll band, even if they’ll never play another note.
• Little Games, The Yardbirds (1967): Page was on deck for the Yardbirds’ final hour in the studio, recording this disc with producer Mickie Most, who would go on to produce the Jeff Beck Group’s stunning blues-rock masterpieceTruth the next year. Little Games was the least successful of the Yardbirds’ albums. Nonetheless, it remains notable today for the recorded debut of Page’s violin bow guitar technique on the song “Tinker Tailor Solider Sailor.”
• Live Yardbirds (1971): Jeff Beck had left the Yardbirds well before this album was taped at the Anderson Theater in New York City on March 30, 1968, so it’s a display of Page’s lead guitar prowess with the group as well as a record of his conceptual advance toward forming Led Zeppelin. The disc was only released by Epic Records after the latter had become an international sensation and is fairly unremarkable except to Page’s and the Yardbirds’ hard-core fans. Once again, however, there is a notable historic artifact: the song “I’m Confused,” which Page turned into Led Zeppelin’s sweeping musical epic “Dazed and Confused.”
• Death Wish II soundtrack (1982): Page’s gristly compositions pumped up the intensity for the second entry in this Charles Bronson vigilante film franchise, which came on the heels of Page’s attempt to form a band called XYZ with Yes’ Chris Squire and Alan White as the rhythm section. Some of the soundtrack’s most interesting turns — like “Shadow in the City” — are boldly experimental. The latter recalls the mid-section of “Dazed and Confused,” but with primitive looping, Godzilla-toned bass and keyboards, and extended guitar technique including scraping and hammering strings.
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